Tour D'Sinnoh
by Gman91
Summary: The story takes place before the Pokemon League came to Sinnoh. Lance and the Pokemon League are bringing the sensation to Sinnoh. And they are hosting a giant 10 round tournament to decide the Elite Four and Gym Leaders.
1. Tour D'Intro

The Dragon Master Lance stood on the stage in a big unused dome in Hearthome. The dome was filled with anxious people and many TV cameras.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Sinnoh Region. My name is Lance. And as you may know I am the Pokemon League Champion in the Kanto and Johto area. The Pokemon League is a very great thing. It offers plenty of jobs. But more importantly it gives the young adults experiences that they will use for the rest of their lives. And it also gives them hobbies to keep them occupied and out of trouble. Because the Pokemon League is such a great thing to have. It is my honor to announce that there will be a Pokemon League in Sinnoh!" The crowd instantly burst into cheerful roars and there was clapping mixed in. "But for a Pokemon League there needs to be an Elite Four and Gym Leaders. We at the other Pokemon Leagues have decided to open up a tournament for the masses. We have picked out eight cities to hold each round, and the semi finals and finals will all take place in Lily of the Valley Island. The first leg of the tournament will begin two weeks from today. Now listen to me closely for these words are important. There will be thousands entering this tournament. You can sign up at any pokemon center. Then there will be Preliminary matches held at Jubilife and it will get down to 1,024 who will participate in the tournament with the first round being in Oreburgh. There will be more detailed instructions at the Pokemon Centers. That concludes this speech." The red haired man then preceded to walk off the stage. The image suddenly went black as a young male turned off his television. The male had long black flowing hair that he tied into a ponytail. His eyes were a soft, ocean blue. His navy blue shirt had one long sleeve but didn't have a second sleeve. Brown cargo pants and black tennis shoes finished off his wardrobes. He rose to his feet. Next to him was a Buizel with black, triangular shades on. The pokemon also rose to his feet.

"You're going aren't you?" asked the kids mother who was in the kitchen. Next to her was a Murkrow that was helping cook pancakes.

"Yes. You can't blame me can you?" replied the male in question form. His mother shook her head no and laughed.

"I would've pushed you too go. But you know there are going to be some experienced trainers there. And most trainers are going to have a full team of six. You should work on expanding and quickly" kindly advised the mother.

"Will do mama. I'm sure the local Pokecenter is crowded with people trying to enter. I will just go sign up tomorrow morning. But for now I'm going to take Buizel out and do some training. I'll be in my usual spot. Send Murkrow to get me when dinner is ready." The kid then bolted out the door with Buizel hot on his tail. The mother just shook her head side to side and let out a sigh.

"Ah kids, what can you do about them Murkrow?" she mumbled rhetorically. "But he isn't a kid anymore. He is sixteen. Where did the years go Murkrow? Going after this tournament is a good idea for him. But he will take you and I'll be all alone here in Sandgem." The mother and Murkrow suddenly got really sad. Murkrow nudged the mother's chin to raise her head up. She smiled slightly and patted Murkrow on the head. "Well no worries. I'll just have to call him every day." She pushed back her tears and the two continued to cook.

–

The young male made a punching motion and yelled "Ice Punch!" The Buizel nodded firmly and slammed it's ice covered punch into the huge oak tree in front of him. "Follow up with IronTail!" The Buizel quickly rotated around and rammed it's two metallic coated tails into the tree. "Now push off then use Water Gun!" Buizel firmly planted it's feet against the tree then pushed off and took off like a rocket. Buizel spun around so it's back was parallel to the ground. He then raised his head up and unleashed a stream of water against the tree. While still carrying momentum Buizel put his feet against the ground and kept sliding back. He stopped sliding right in front of his trainer. "Good job Buizel. That's our Combo Breaker! This tournament is our chance to get noticed. You ready to turn some heads?" Buizel slide his shades up with one finger and gave a single, confident nod. A Murkrow came flying towards the trainer and pokemon. The young male knew what that meant and headed back to the house.

–

The next morning the male entered the PokeCenter with Buizel at his side and Murkrow perched on his head. Off the right there was a brand new desk. Above the desk was a banner that said Pokemon League Tournament Sign-ups. Behind the desk sat a nice looking brunette. Just as the male suspected there was no one trying to sign up this morning.

"I'm assuming you want to sign up" greeted the brunette in a cheerful voice. "Your number is seven which means your preliminary is going to be on Saturday, the 17th, the final day of preliminaries. You will need to be in Jubilife that day. If you forget then tough luck. Now give me your name and you will be all signed up" she informed.

"My name is Cotter Alexander" he said with a charming smile.


	2. Tour D'Diglett

I have decided to stick to the Tour D'_ as chapter titles. Because they are rather goofy and I like goofy. The story is going to start picking up now, slowly but surely.

Also I attempted at using a semi colon for the first time in my life. Those bastards are hard to understand.

[hr]

[b][u]Chapter II- Tour D'Diglett[/b][/u]

It has been three days since Cotter signed up for the massive tournament. He had spent those three days trying to expand his team. But he couldn't find any pokemon that felt right to catch for his team. Cotter was currently sleeping on his couch in the family room while his mother was cooking with Murkrow again.

"Boy wake up!" she shouted and clapped loudly. Cotter slowly opened one eye but then quickly turned over and return to sleep. "Buizel wake the boy up" she kindly asked of the pokemon. Buizel was sitting next to the couch watching cartoons on the television. The otter pokemon jumped up from his spot and landed right on Cotter's stomach. The young man was instantly awaken from his sleep. Buizel looked down and grinned at his trainer before getting off of him. "Good morning son. Even though it's two in the afternoon" she greeted cheerfully. We are out of milk and bacon so would you be a good kid and run down to the mart for me. The tired boy mindlessly walked out of the house with Buizel trailing him. Cotter moved like a zombie down the dirt road. He had foolishly stayed up way to late playing video games. The PokeMart was just down the road from his house. Suddenly Cotter was leaning extremely to the right because his right leg had fallen through the road; the same happened to Buizel. The drop had jolted Cotter out of his zombie state. Cotter placed his hands on ground and tried to push himself up but his left hand fell through the ground too. Buizel wasn't having any luck getting out either. Both of their legs had gotten stuck. A small brown pokemon popped it's head up out of the ground about ten feet in front of Cotter. The little pokemon had a big round pink nose and was no taller than eight inches. The pokemon let out a squeaky laugh and stuck it's tongue out tauntingly. This really pissed off Buizel who launched a Water Gun. The brown pokemon suddenly wasn't so cocky anymore. It's eyes got really wide and it's jaw fell. It dropped under the ground at the last second to avoid the attack. It didn't come back up again. Buizel was still steaming with anger as Cotter placed his hands around the yellow pokemon. Cotter then gave a strong tug and lifted Buizel out of the hole. He carefully placed Buizel back on the ground. Buizel then held his paws out and Cotter grabbed on. Together they were able to drag Cotter out but it was very exhausting. Buizel was darting his head side to side as they cautiously walked towards the mart.

"Buizel give up. He doesn't seem like the kind of pokemon to reveal himself again. He is probably underground hiding or digging more traps" Cotter spoke to his pokemon. Buizel didn't give up looking around though. The duo were now right in front of the mart when they heard a loud, feminine scream followed by "help me!" Buizel and Cotter darted that direction without thinking. The screams were heard on Route 202. Along the grassy path was a women that had fallen into a hole. Some of the wild Shinx and Bidoof had been caught as well. And of course in front of them all was the trouble maker sticking his tongue out. Cotter was about to order his pokemon to attack but Buizel had already unleashed a Water Gun. The pokemon had no idea Cotter and Buizel were around and so the Water Gun hit him right in the face. Buizel was already charging in with an Ice Punch. Cotter decided it would be good to know what this pokemon was and took out his red pokedex. He scanned the pokemon and the electronic voice of the pokedex began to inform Cotter but he ignored it. Cotter just scanned through the words on the Pokdex. "Let's see. This is a Diglett who is native to Kanto. It's a ground type. And this one is a male. But how can they tell?" he mumbled to himself. Cotter slide his pokedex back into his pokedex and looked back up at the battle. Diglett had dropped underground again to avoid the Ice Punch. But Buizel stuck his snout right in the hole Diglett left and unleashed a Water Gun. Cotter had no idea if the Diglett had fainted or got away. He saw that Buizel did not need any help and preceded to walk towards the stuck lady. The young male politely held out his hand and lifted her out of the hole. Buizel unleashed another wave of Water Gun. The lady thanked Cotter before taking off back towards Sandgem. Buizel once again let out another Water Gun down the hole. Cotter couldn't help but sigh and laugh at the same time. "Stop it" he ordered as he pushed Buizel away from the hole. Cotter got on his knees to peer down the hole. Ten feet under the ground he spotted a little brown pokemon who's eyes were spiraling. Buizel probably did enough damage to knock it out five times. Cotter reached into his back pocket a retrieved a red and white sphere. Buizel knew what Cotter was going to do and grabbed his arm. Buizel tried to pull his master away from the hole with little luck. "Buizel I know he may have ticked you off. But the little guy has spunk and he is quite cute. He's a perfect addition to the team. And if we don't catch him he is going to keep causing trouble for this town or other towns" Cotter convincingly said. The speech had no affect on Buizel and the otter continued to tug at Cotter. The human overpowered his pokemon and pulled his hand out of his pocket. Pokeball in hand he pointed it down the hole. After a show of red energy the pokeball rocked back and forth on Cotter's hand. Diglett had no energy to fight back and was caught. Cotter happily flipped the pokeball into the air. With one swift movement he caught it and placed it on his trainer's belt. Buizel happily crossed his arms and looked away from Cotter. "You will forgive me late." Cotter headed back towards Sandgem. He still needed to go the mart. But chasing Diglett had made him exhausted and he was already tired from staying up too late. To his right was a nice tree with perfect shade. Cotter grabbed Buizel by the back of the neck and moved towards the tree. He sat right under the shade and leaned against the golden brown tree. Buizel decided to rest his eyes while Cotter fell right back asleep.

[hr]

Be prepared to fall in love with Diglett. His cuteness will steal your heart.


	3. Tour D'Decision

Thanks again for the comments Justin. Just plugging away at this story. I really enjoy the cast so far. It'll keep getting better, beginnings aren't my strong suit.

Chapter III- Tour D'Decision

Cotter's empty pokeballs rolled out of his large pant pocket as he lay sleeping against the shady tree. A curious, large pokemon was curiously sniffing around Route 3. It was a fat, gray cat-like pokemon, a Purugly. It's fur was ruffled and it's whiskers were twisted. It looked worn and tired. The pokemon had probably not had the care from a trainer for a very long time. She approached Cotter and began to purr. Her heavy footsteps stirred Buizel from his light rest. The otter slowly opened his right eye from behneath his sunglasses and growled lightly at the newcomer. The Purugly was not intimidated and it returned an equally threatening growl. Buizel just turned away and returned to his light nap. The purring Purugly starting nudging Cotter's side but Cotter didn't even stir. Purugly rushed up to his face and began licking it with her wet tongue to show affection. Yet still Cotter did not stir. Purugly's purring did not falter though, she was determined to get Cotter's attention. Suddenly the empty pokeballs on the ground caught Purugly's eye. If a trainer wasn't going to catch her, she'd just catch herself. Purugly laid down on her stomach and then rubbed her head against one of the red and white pokeballs. This action opened up the lock on the pokeball and Purugly willingly went inside. The red light enveloped Purugly then the ball rocked back and forth. After three clicks the pokeball flashed red and Purugly was caught. Buizel tilted down his sunglasses to see Purugly getting caught in the pokeball. The cool pokemon let out a sigh and then leaned over to punch Cotter right in the right cheek. Cotter's eyes grew huge as a long spray of spit flew out of his mouth. He quickly jumped to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at his Buizel. The orange otter was just leaning against the tree with his arms crossed and his sunglasses on.

"What did you do that for you jerk?" Cotter shouted, spit flew everywhere. Buizel simply responded by pointing at the pokeball that Purugly caught herself in. Curiously Cotter bent down and slowly picked up the pokeball with two fingers. He rotated it around, observing the ball carefully. Cotter suddenly realized why Buizel pointed out the pokeball. He dropped the ball and tossed his arms straight in the air. "Th-ther-there is a pokemon in one of my pokeballs!" Cotter exclaimed wildly. Buizel just shrugged his shoulders, still not making eye contact with Cotter. "Well maybe it's a really cool and exotic pokemon" Cotter mumbled to himself as he released the button on the pokeball. Out came the large Purugly with a giant smile on her face. She purred loudly and began to rub on Cotter's leg. Cotter's jaw was dropped and his face was covered in disgust. "It's so ugly" he whispered to himself. He did not at all want to keep such an ugly pokemon at all. Suddenly a pokemon dropped out of the large tree Cotter was sleeping against earlier. It was a was a Simisage that looked extremely irritated for some reason. The pokemon shouted then ran off bumping into Cotter on it's way out. Cotter stumbled and then fell towards the ground but caught the base of the tree to keep himself up. Red eyes of rage filled Purugly and she chased after Simisear. Purugly left behind streaks of white as she took off running and Cotter identified that move as Quick Attack. Purugly continued with her Quick Attack slamming it's head right into Simisear's spine. The pokemon's arms were shot into the air and his head pointed up as he howled in pain. The grass monkey was instantly knocked out. Cotter was frozen in shock as Purugly trotted back to her new owner. [I] "That was a fully evolved pokemon so Purugly has to be really strong. Especially since she used such a weak attack. Do I put up with having an unappealing pokemon because it's powerful, decisions." [/i] Cotter knelled down to pet his new pokemon on her fat, fury head. Cotter was put off by her stench and matter fur but he continued showing her affection. "Alright Purugly you can stay! But you need a bath" he declared. Purugly happily cried out and continued to cry as Cotter lead her home. Buizel was unhappy with the sudden expanse of team members and reluctantly he trudged home.

"Thanks for bringing home the grocery's like I asked son" spoke Mom very sarcastically.

"Got caught in trap, caught two pokemon, one dirty, needs bath" Cotter explained hurriedly before jolting upstairs with Purugly in tow. Buizel came in moments later and closed the door that Cotter left wide open. Mom and Murkrow were cleaning up the breakfast mess together. The older woman had somehow gotten the ingredients she needed without help from her son. Buizel just came in and sat down on the navy blue couch. He tried to enjoy the sports game on television but his mind was clearly occupied.

Cotter was now next to the bathtub cleaning his fat cat. The young male was scrubbing Purugly with a large brush. White, foamy soup was covering the cat's chubby body. Cotter felt awfully happy that he was helping out a pokemon in need. Of course he wasn't going to start cleaning dirty pokemon or anything. After the bath was done Purugly leapt out of the tub, leaving behind a trail of soup bubbles. Towel in hand Cotter dried off Purugly's body, starting at the head. This left Purugly with wet, spiky hair and her appearance made Cotter chuckle. Once she was cleaned up Purugly actually wasn't repulsing at all. She was still ugly but at least Cotter was alright with being around her. He continued to rub her dry as she purred a lovely tune.

Back downstairs Mom was sitting on the couch next to Buizel. She wasn't alright with seeing the pokemon so depressed. She kept scouting closer and closer to him as he purposely looked in the opposite direction of her. She then gave one giant scoot and was right next to his small orange body. Buizel squirmed uncomfortably but did not get up.

"So young one I see you are aren't your normal smug self. And that saddens me. I haven't seen you like this since Cotter brought home that little black bird. But you are even more sad now compared to back then. I sense because Cotter caught two pokemon this time. Now you're living in a crowded party of four members. And I understand you aren't a fan of that. You try to be a loner and a bad ass but you are really Cotter's baby." Buizel continued to look away from Mom with his chin raised high. Mom lightly pinched his cheek which caused him to smile. She then continued with her speech. "Things change Buizel. I know you don't want Cotter to have more pokemon just like I don't want him to leave. But change happens. I mean you couldn't have expected it just to be you and Murkrow forever did you? Just like I didn't expect him to live here forever. I know what you're going through. But you're just going to have to accept it. Change happens for a reason. You might actually grow to like the new members Cotter caught. Anyway I have things to do. Think about what I said." Mom energetically jumped to her feet and scurried upstairs with Murkrow flying behind her. Buizel exhaled a large breath and pushed his glasses up his snout.


	4. Tour D'Filler

Writer's Note: Want to apologize now for the sloppy tagging in the previous 3 chapters. I'm also posting this on another site and I didn't realize that the tags were different between the two websites. So hopefully I have the right tags for this chapter.

Kind of a filler chapter here, not the most exciting. Things will get better from here on out and the chapters between towns wont be this boring. And it will take more chapters to travel between towns.

Chapter IV

It was now the evening hours of the 16th of the month. Cotter was standing at the door of his house with a large pack on his back, ready to leave. He stood there impatiently while his mom went over the checklist in her hand once again.

"Alright let's see one more time. Wallet with ID and money?" she sounded off. 

"Check" he unemotionally replied.

"Week's worth of clothes?" Cotter didn't even bother to check. This was the third time she had gone through her checklist, everything was already accounted for.

"Check."

"Cell Phone and charger?"

"Check." Cotter slowly moved his hand towards the door handle.

"Alright let's see. Comb, toothbrush, deodorant...?"

"Check, check, check and every other health related product check." Cotter slowly twisted the handle and Buizel helped him quietly push the door.

"Alright I get the hint. I'll hurry up" she said with serious smile. "Let's see Buizel is right there. So Murkrow?" The black bird was sitting atop Cotter's head in plain sight. She was also pressing to get on with the adventure. Murkrow was great friends with Mom but Mom was started to act a little crazy and Murkrow knew it was time to go.

"Check."

"Diglett?"

"Check."

"Purugly?"

"Check."

"Let's see what else is there." Cotter now had the door wide open and Mom didn't even notice. But instead of making a run for it Cotter closed the door. He approached his mom, tossed her checklist aside and looked her right in the eyes.

"Mom we've been over the checklist, I have everything I need. You're sad to see me go, that's why you're doing this. But it'll be alright. I will call you everyday, I promise. I really need to get on the road though. I want to reach Jubilife before it gets too dark. Before I go though, I have a surprise. Without me or Murkrow you're going to be really lonely and as your son that is not ok. So I talked to Professor Rowan today and told him your situation. So even though this is silly he said if you came by tomorrow he would give you your own pokemon. Someone to help keep you company while I'm away. That's my parting gift, it's time to go." He kissed her on the cheek and then bolted out the door before she could say anything else. Mom stood there with a happy expression on her face, she had raised a great boy.

Cotter nervously walked along Route 203 with all four of his pokemon at his side. His match was scheduled for 7 am and just the thought of it was nerve racking. A loss was almost automatically elimination and so soon. Suddenly a positive thought floated into Cotter's mind. The tournament was 1,024 spots. The judges choose who got in from the performance they put on in the preliminary match. There was a tiny chance that if you lost the judges would still put you through because they deemed you very strong with a stronger opponent. Tomorrow was the last day of the preliminaries and all those 1,024 spots had to be filled. So it gave Cotter a higher chance to loose and move on. He then quickly shook those thoughts out of his head. He would not use. He looked down at his three pokemon, since Murkrow was still on his head and began to think about who to use in his match. Purugly was strolling right at his, matching his walking speed. She had very powerful physical attacks and was actually decently fast. Though she completely lacked in agility and range. Diglett was digging along right in front of Cotter so he could occasionally make small holes for Cotter to trip over because the little, brown pokemon found it hilarious. Diglett had shown great speed and with his ability to dig he was hard to hit. But he couldn't do much besides dig and he majorly lacked in power. He was also was frail as wet paper. Murkrow was happily resting on Cotter's head, her talons were placed just right that they didn't dig into his dome. Murkrow was a flying ace, could easily avoid attack while up in the air and she hit pretty hard too. Then there was Buizel who was walking about five feet in front of Cotter, leading the party. He was the obvious choice for Cotter to rely on in a must win situation. Speed, power, agility, range, Buizel had it all. While still not perfect Buizel was an incredibly capable pokemon. And he also looked extremely cool with his shades which was an extra deciding factor.

Cotter had now been walking for a few hours and it was officially dark out. Luckily there were street lamps lighting the road to Jubilife. Cotter had been to the large city a few times so he knew he was close to arriving. The walk was pretty quiet with the exception of Purugly's heavy footsteps and the chirping of the wild Kricketot. But suddenly a new sound entered the area and that was the sound of someone running. Cotter could tell the running was that of a bipedal being but he couldn't tell if it was pokemon or human. Cotter stopped and looked behind his shoulder to see the running figure approaching. The figured came into clearer view quickly and revealed itself to be a young human lady. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail and she had on round glasses. The lady came to a sliding halt when she reached where Cotter stood. The dust she kicked up caused Cotter and his pokemon to cough.

"Excuse me but do you know how far Jubilife is from here?" she asked hurriedly and awkwardly.

"Just like 20 minutes" Cotter answered, scratching his head.

"Oh thank goodness." She released a huge sigh of relief. "See I'm supposed to be there for the tournament tomorrow and I've never been there before. I came from Twinleaf and got distracted and left late. And I had no idea how far it was from Twinleaf so I ran as much as I could so I wouldn't be late. But I guess I didn't need to run" she explained still talking very fast. "Well I'll leave you alone now, thanks kind stranger." She then took off still moving very speedily. Cotter shrugged his shoulders and continued onward with his pokemon. Though Buizel stood still for a second to clear the dirt from his shades. He was angry while cleaning them but was much happier when he placed them back on his head. The then jogged forward to get his spot at the front of the party again.

Within twenty minutes Cotter reached Jubilife. He had returned Diglett and Purugly into their pokeballs because they had fallen asleep as it was close to midnight now. Cotter himself was having troubles keeping himself awake. He had wisely called into the Pokecenter earlier and reserved a hotel room. So when he reached the pokecenter he easily got his key, made it into his room and passed out on the bed. Murkrow pulled out the white, cotton sheets from under him and then covered him with it. She then grabbed onto his backpack and slide his body forward so his head his head was laying more comfortably on the pillow. Murkrow then flew to the desk right next to the bed and curled up for sleep. Buizel sighed as he reached into Cotter's pockets, pulling out his cellphone. He flipped the phone open and preceded to set the alarm for 6:30.

"Thanks buddy" Cotter mumbled before drifting off to sleep.


	5. Tour D'Preliminaries

Chapter V

It was now seven am and Cotter was standing atop the Jubilife Television station. There was a slight wind at his back that was blowing his jacket around. Cotter was not alone up on the roof, Buizel was behind him but there were also other humans there. To the right of him sat three nicely dressed humans, two men and a female. Two guys with television cameras who were currently standing still. Also there were two unmanned television cameras. One was pointing right at Cotter while the other was pointing at the man across from Cotter. This man was a large and stocky. All his clothes were blue as were his eyes. Though his hair was a bright orange. He stood there tossing a pokeball in his hand. Between the two men stood a women dressed officially in black and white. She had in each hand a green and red flag. She looked both of the men in the eyes and then raised her flags straight in the air.

"Alright the seven am preliminary match between Cotter of Sandgem and Justin of Lavaridge town will now begin. The match will be a one on one. The three judges here will be closely observing your performances. Win or lose neither of you may advance or both of you may advance. You have to impress the judges. Now prepare your pokemon choice" announced the referee woman.

"Lavaridge? What kind of place is that. I've never heard of it" Cotter thought to himself. "Anyway let's see this battle arena is very flat and wide open. It's atop a building so Diglett is not a good idea. There is only one right choice on an arena like this." Cotter slipped his hand down to his belt and retrieved a pokeball. Buizel wasn't too happy with this and shot Cotter a stern look with his arms crossed.

"Release your pokemon!" the referee ordered. She then quickly back peddled so that she stood far to the left of Cotter. The two trainers tossed their pokeballs up in the air. In front of Justin materialism an orange and black tortoise pokemon, Torkoal. To battle for Cotter was his trusty flying type, Murkrow. Buizel turned to Cotter and gave him a look as if to say 'see you should've chose me'. Cotter ignored Buizel's looks to completely focus on his battle.

"Alright Torkoal end this in one hit with Overheat!" Justin demanded in a deep voice. Torkoal opened it's mouth widely and released a large blast of fire. The fire was so bright that the judges and the ref had to cover their eyes with an arm. Cotter didn't even squint an eye.

"Murkrow up!" Cotter shouted calmly. Murkrow skyrocketed straight up and narrowly avoided the fire. Luckily the overheat dissipated by the time it reached where Cotter stood.

"Hmm that bird is awfully fast" commented Justin. "Then we will just have to fire faster, Torkoal shoot him down with Stone Edge!" A bunch of sharp, brown stones surronded Torkoal's body. Then on the pokemon commands the stones were shot out towards Murkrow.

"Murkrow zig zag through them!" advised Cotter. Murkrow flew towards the stones and weaved around them with it's agile body. But there were to many stones and one clipped Murkrow's right wing which stopped the pokemon's movement. When he wasn't moving another stone collided right in her chest. This made Murkrow unable to stay flying and she headed on a crash course with the ground. Luckily the television station was still under her and she landed in the middle of the battle field.

"Perfect now use Skull Bash!" Torkoal tucked it's head inside his shell and ran forward recklessly.

"Quickly use Thunder Wave!" Cotter hastily ordered. A faint electrical charge formed between Murkrow's wings and was quickly shot out at Torkoal. The paralyzation took over his body and stopped his movement inches before he rammed into Murkrow. "Now Murkrow get back to the skies." Murkrow pushed off the ground with her talons and flew ten feet in the air before stopping and hovering.

"Silly boy you should've attacked while you had the chance, now finish it off with Stone Edge" called out Justin. Once again the sharp stones surrounded Torkoal's body and were shot out at Murkrow.

"Murkrow use Tailwind this time!" The black bird quickly flapped her wings which created an aura of speed around her body. "Now dodge!" With her new found speed Murkrow easily made her way through the Stone Edge barrage. "And now attack with Aerial Ace!" Murkrow speed right into Torkoal's head and continued past and stopped right above of Justin.

"Turn around and use Overheat now!" Justin frantically ordered. Torkoal shook off the damage and turned it's head over it's right shoulder. Torkoal fired the gigantic blast of fire but because of how his head was his aim was very bad. Murkrow just moved a foot to the left and easily avoided the attack. "Fine then turn around!" The large pokemon took steps to turn it's body around but he was slow and his steps were small.

"Bombard Torkoal with Shadow Ball, as many as you can" Cotter commanded. A deep purple ball formed between Murkrow's wings and she tossed it hard at the fire type. It hit him on the shell and definitely did some damage but Torkoal was still trying to turn to face Murkrow. Sp Murkrow fired another Shadow Ball and then another, both hit hard. The damage was showing on Torkoal as he finally was facing Murkrow. "Aerial Ace again!" Cotter ordered quickly. With Tailwind still in play Murkrow speedily slammed into Torkoal's head again before he could do anything about it. Murkrow was once again facing Torkoal's backside. The Judges all seemed quite impressed and amused.

"Ah! Turn around again, faster faster!" Justin frantically demanded. He was stopped his feet and pulling on his hair. Murkrow didn't even need an order this time and began to fire Shadow Balls again while the panting Torkroal tried to turn his body around. Murkrow's first Shadow Ball collided right again the side of Torkoal's head. The tortoise's head just dropped because he was knocked unconscious. The woman referee stepped forward and raised the green flag towards Cotter.

"Cotter of Sandgem wins the match" she announced. "Now both of you please escort yourself off the roof. The people advancing will be posted around town at ten tonight." Murkrow flew back and landed happily atop Cotter's head.

"Great job girl" he proudly commented. Cotter then walked forward to where Justin and Torkoal was. The large red headed trainer was checking up on his pokemon before returning it to it's ball. Cotter firmly held on his right hand towards Justin. The male hesitantly shook Cotter's hand. "You were a fine opponent" Cotter truthfully complimented.

"I was no match for your tactics and wits" Justin complimented back. Then both men walked together towards the bottom left corner of the roof where the stairwell was.

Cotter walked out of the television station building with just Murkrow and Buizel with him. His destination was the Pokecenter but he quickly glanced behind him to see large television screens plastered all around the station building. Since there was no room on the roof for spectators that was how people could watch the matches. And there were hundreds of people gathered around the building waiting for the next match. Cotter pushed through them with his eyes set on the red and white Pokecenter. Cotter was focused on getting Murkrow healed even though it wasn't really necessary. Cotter just wanted to do something to keep his mind off the match and the tournament. Even though he won he didn't know if he'd advance. He'd have to wait until the night to find out and until then he'd have to keep himself occupied.


	6. Tour D'Rivals

Chapter VI

Cotter sat on a solid white chair in the Pokecenter Waiting Room while he waited for Murkrow to be healed. Buizel was siting in the chair on Cotter's left, reading a Xool Xids magazine. The magazine had a picture of Xatu on the cover. Sitting on Cotter's right was a human male. His light orange hair was slicked back which made his emerald, green eyes stick out brightly. His black pants and black collered shirt were slightly covered up by his black clock. To finish out his outfit were a pair of thick, black boots. He was flipping a quarter between his fingers on his right hand when he turned to look at Cotter.

"Say are you a competitor is this large tournament?" politely asked the tall male. Cotter turned to look back at him and replied.

"Yes I am. Just had my match today and won. Though it's only preliminaries." Cotter's cheeks raised and his smile grew when he mentioned his win.

"Oh great job!" the stranger enthusiastically complimented. The stranger lifted his long arm up in the air for a high five. Cotter wasn't expecting this but gave the man a high five anyway. "My match is later today" the man informed as he put his eyes back on his magazine. A confused look fell over Cotter's face.

"Wait if you haven't had your match yet. Then why are you here waiting in the Pokecenter this early in the morning?" Cotter questioned hoping to resolve his confusion. The stranger tossed his head back and laughed.

"I'm not waiting for a pokemon to be healed. I'm just sitting here to read the magazines. I quite enjoy a good read. My name is Smythe by the way" he introduced. Smyth then stuck his hand out again but this time for a shake. Cotter met the guys handshake and Smythe had a very powerful grip. He wasn't just tall but also pretty strong. "Say kid not trying to be offensive or anything but you look rather young and inexperienced for a tournament like this" he commented, looking at Cotter out of the corner of his eye. This time Cotter let out a little laugh.

"Well I mean there are thousands of competitors and this is Sinnoh. I'm sure everyone entering is inexperienced. But yes I am decently young and no I don't have any real experience with pokemon. But I've lived amongst them my entire left. Even though I've stayed in my small town my entire life I am still very familiar with pokemon. I know what I'm doing" Cotter defended himself. He lowered his voice slightly to make him appear more tough and intimidating. Now it was Smythe's turn to laugh and laugh he did.

"No need to defend yourself kid. You're bold and confident, you'll go far. Though you won't if you keep thinking all your opponents are going to be inexperienced. Have you thought of the possibility that people from the other regions might come over to Sinnoh?" Cotter instantly froze in place once he heard Smythe's words. Smythe noticed Cotter's actions and chuckled a bit. "I'm guessing not. Well I hate to break it you but it's happening. I myself am from Kanto."

"Oh really?" intriguingly asked Cotter who was no longer frozen.

"Yes and on top of that. I'm very experienced. I was actually once apart of the Elite Four in Kanto" he bragged with a cocky smile.

"Cotter Alexander your pokemon is ready for you" a sweet voice said over the intercom." Cotter slid off the chair and onto his feet. He patted the wrinkles out of his pants and then raised his arms high in the air to stretch.

"Honestly it's a little hard to believe. Anyone can say they are a former Elite Four member of another region. If you really are that though you are a very powerful trainer and I might see you in later rounds. Good day Smythe." Cotter waved goodbye and then strode towards the front desk where someone was eagerly waiting for him. Murkrow was perched atop her ball which was on top of the plastic, red front counter. Murkow pushed off of her ball and landed right on Cotter's matted hair. In one fell swoop he put Murkrow's empty ball on his belt. With Buizel in tow the young male left the rather boring establishment. He needed something to do that would occupy his mind. Not knowing Jubilife very well he decided to just roam around. But not three steps past the Pokecenter he was rammed into from the side. The collision knocked him off his left foot and he was tumbling towards the ground. Buizel swiftly grabbed his belt buckle and pulled him to both feet. While Murkrow readjusted herself, Cotter looked for the culprit. The culprit was a young lady with a ponytail and round glasses and Cotter recognized her from the night before.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry" she hastily repeated. "I'm just in a hurry because I'm I have my tournament match. And I didn't see where I was going. And I'm just sorry. I'll be on my way now!" She then took off running again like a bullet. Cotter quickly reached out his hand like it'd stop her.

"Wait, what is your name?" he wondered extremely loudly. She slid to a halt and turned around instantly. Her hands were pressed against her cheeks and she was blushing brightly.

"My n-name is C-C-Chloe" she stumbled awkwardly. The girl no older than 16 seemed to be under the impression that he was hitting on her.

"Flirting with a girl like that" Cotter heard a voice comment out of the corner of his ear.

"Chloe. Don't even run into me again!" he exclaimed madly. Chloe then covered her hands with her eyes and took off running towards the TV station. Murkrow and Buizel both thought that scene was pretty funny and shared a chuckle over it. Cotter then turned his attention to the person who had previously commented. Behind him stood another female who was leaning against the Pokecenter with her arms crossed. Her straight hair was dyed red with orange tips. It was longer and thicker at the front of her head compared to the back. Her eyes were a gorgeous blue and she was just all around attractive. Her white shirt was cut off above her belly button but the sleeves ran all the way to her fingers. Her brown, shin tall boots covered more than her black, jean shorts did.

"I was not flirting, for your information" he told her firmly. She just smirked and continued to look down at the ground.

"Well that's good. Hate to see a cute guy like you go after an unappealing girl like that" she teased, sticking out her tongue slightly.

"Well" he said hollowly for lack of what he should say. The girl raised her head and stepped forward to pat Cotter on the shoulder.

"By the way I see you're a trainer which means you're probably in the tournament. You should just drop out now, because I am easily winning this entire thing." Cotter just scoffed at her comment and let out one single hah.

"You're probably the thousandth person who has to said that to someone in this tournament. Words don't win matches, winning wins matches." The tension began to rise between the two as they slammed their heads together.

"Well then whoever wins is the better trainer. So let's settle this. But not here. Meet me at the west exit. And there I will obliterate your confidence." And with those last worlds she trailed off eastbound. Cotter wasn't witty enough to say anything before she was out of sight. He realized he wasn't moving and had a place to be. That girl was very intriguing to Cotter and it helped that she called him cute because he really liked that. And he knew he needed battles outside of the tournament to get stronger. So he marched towards the east exit after her very anxiously.


	7. Tour D'Reimi

Chapter VII

Cotter stood in an empty grass field with the red headed girl from earlier about fifteen feet across from him. Buizel was cracking his neck and his knuckles to get ready for a fight. The lady smirked, touched the tip of her nose with her finger and then pulled a pokeball from her belt.

"This is going to be a three pokemon battle, k? Even though I'll only need to use one. Pull out your pokemon and we will release together." she teased extremely confidently. Cotter was not put off her words though. It was nothing new for a trainer to talk big. He was focused on shutting her mouth with his battling skill. Cotter grabbed a ball from his belt instead of opting to rely on Buizel this battle. The female waved her pokeball hand in the air and at some point hit the releasing button on the round cage. Cotter then flicked his pokeball up in the air and caught the empty shell that came down. In front of her materialized a pokemon that was only a few inches shorter than herself. The brown pokemon firmly kicked in the direction of Cotter to try to intimidate the trainer. Cotter wasn't worried that she pulled out a fully evolved pokemon right off the bat. But he was worried because of his big type disadvantage for he had chosen Purugly. The large cat looked very determined to take down it's opponent. The female trainer had gotten in what looked like a fighting position and she was really eager to get this battle starter. "Alright Hitmonlee start things off right with a..." she was cut off.

"Purugly return!" Cotter interrupted and in a flash of red light Purugly disappeared. "I am not stupid I have no intention in fighting a round where I am at a disadvantage if I can avoid it" Cotter commented in a deep, serious voice. He had a stern face and was just trying to appear as official as possible. The red haired female could help but giggle.

"Your fake tough guy act is quite adorable" she mentioned, still giggling. Cotter clinched his teeth and hurriedly reached for his next pokemon.

"My fake tough guy act is not adorable, it is awesome!" he declared as he tossed forward the red and white sphere. His choice was planted right in the ground, Diglett. The female furrowed her eyebrows in a very confused manner.

"You have a flying type right on your head and yet you chose to go with a ground type. And I thought you said you were smart. No matter we will end this quickly." Her brows returned to normal and she pointed a finger down at Diglett.

"Before we begin, just what is your name?" Cotter asked curiously.

"My name is Reimi. Remember it because that is the name that will crush all your dreams of being a powerful trainer. Now let's begin. Starting things off with a Mach Punch" she commanded. Hitmonlee nodded and without hesitation rushed in with his fist cocked back.

"Use Bulldoze then go under!" Cotter hastily countered. Diglett wiggled its body and a lump of ground raised up. The lump then raced towards Hitmonlee. The fighting pokemon easily leapt over it without a command. He then punched right at the ground where Diglett should've been but the little mole was gone. Suddenly the ground shook and the earth underneath Hitmonlee collapsed. The pokemon sunk until the ground was at it's knees. Diglett popped up about ten feet behind Hitmonlee and stuck it's tongue out tauntingly. Cotter then copied Diglett only he aimed his action at Reimi. Reimi crossed her arms and turned her head to the side which flipped her hair.

"What a child" she mumbled under her breath.

"Alright Diglett let's lay down the damage now with Mud Bomb!" A bunch of mud gathered in the form of a large ball right in front of Diglett. The Mud Bomb was almost twice as large as he was. Diglett slammed it's head into the ball which sent the attack flying at the stuck Hitmonlee. "It's over as long as you can't move" Cotter commented confidently. He gave a very cheesy smile as he pointed right at her. Reimi swung her arm in front of her face and then clinched her fist in epic fashion.

"Hitmonlee show him we aren't trapped. Mega Kick!" The lengthy fighting type pulled it's right foot easily from under the ground. He then swung his foot parallel from the ground and smashed right through the Mud Bomb. Nervous sweat was dripping down Diglett's face as Hitmonlee jumped high in the air, easily breaking it's other leg out of the ground.

"Diglett hide underground!" Cotter ordered nervously. Reimi was glowing with confidence and just gave a slight smirk on the right side of her face.

"Mega Kick after it!" Hitmonlee stuck out it's right foot and then headed right towards the hole Diglett made. Hitmonlee's foot made contact with the hole and smashed right through the ground. Hitmonlee continued to break through the ground until he had made a crater about five feet deep. Hitmonlee did a back flip so it stood proudly in front of it's trainer. Cotter's pokemon however was lying at the bottom of the crater knocked out. The male trainer sighed and rubbed his forehead in disappointment. He knew it wasn't Diglett's fault, the pokemon didn't do anything wrong. Cotter's strategy just wasn't as effective as he had hoped, it was all his fault. He returned Diglett into it's ball and then slipped the cage onto his belt. He had already revealed two pokemon while his opponent had still only shown one. Cotter would have to show his third, he wouldn't want Purugly to go up against a fighting type unless he had no other choice. Cotter was about to call forward Murkrow but Buizel had stepped forward already. Buizel tilted his shades down and gave Cotter a look he had seen before. Sometimes Buizel saw an opponent that he just wanted to fight and Cotter couldn't stop him no matter what. And this was one of those times.

"Alright Buizel, let's do this. Buizel pushed his shades back up and then smashed his fists together. Buizel was very excited to fight Hitmonlee. Though neither Hitmonlee or Reimi seemed that impressed.

"You ignore your flying type again, for a water type. Well whatever, keep making this easy for me if you want. Start this battle off with a Headbutt!" Hitmonlee ran forward with giant strides and made sure to avoid the two big holes that were made in the last battle.

"Water Gun!" Buizel cocked back it's head and then snapped it forward, releasing a powerful stream of water. Hitmonlee continued with his last order and headbutted the stream of water. He then continued running like normal, it didn't slow him down at all. Hitmonlee used Headbutt again, this time it collided against Buizel's skull. Buizel was knocked onto his back and then slid a bit, right past Cotter. "Buizel!" Cotter gasped as he reached towards his pokemon.

"Bui bui" the otter responded as he quickly attempted to get to his feet. Hitmonlee was already moving in for the next attack. The fighting type collided it's Mach Punch into Buizel's chest and the orange otter went flying back again. This time Buizel flopped more along the ground. Buizel came to a sliding halt on it's stomach. He couldn't even open his left eye and he was already trying to push himself off the ground with his arms. Buizel was probably ten feet behind Cotter and so the male had turned around so he could watch the battle. Hitmonlee was rushing in once again looking to kick this time. Buizel was still trying to push himself up with his arms when Hitmonlee kicked him right under the chin. This attack sent Buizel flying upwards a good fifteen feet. Suddenly the nervous, worried Cotter was gone replaced by a smooth, confident Cotter.

"I owe you one Reimi" he thanked. She suddenly raised her right eyebrow in confusion.

"Huh?" she repsonded.

"You just gave Buizel some breathing room, just what we needed!" Buizel was in an upright position in the air and while his body was awfully beat up he seemed more relaxed. "Now buddy shower Hitmonlee in a Water Pulse!" A globe of water appeared before Buizel's open mouth and then was shot off towards Hitmonlee.

"Kick it just like you did Mud Bomb" calmly ordered Reimi. She still had yet to be nervous about one event this battle. Hitmonlee ran it's foot parallel with the ground and it collided with the sphere of water. On collision the water was sprayed everywhere, covering both participants. Cotter grinned in excitement and rubbed his hands together.

"I love when a plan falls into place. Now Ice Punch!" Buizel's left paw began to glow an icy blue as it darted forward at almost invisible speeds. He swung his fist right between Hitmonlee's eyes. The fighting pokemon stumbled back almost more surprised than hurt. "Iron Tail Next." Buizel was back to moving at normal speeds as he collided his metal covered tail into the side of Hitmonlee's head. Hitmonlee stumbled to the left now still trying to recover from Buizel's attacks. "Finish the combination with Water Gun!" The orange otter planted it's feet against Hitmonlee's body while it was still slightly dazed and then pushed off. Before Buizel got far Hitmonlee grabbed it's tail and stopped it's movement. Then the brown fighting type raised it's arm above it's head and send Buizel flying. The otter type landed on it's stomach facing it's trainer and it was knocked out. Cotter got down on a knee so he could check the status of his pokemon.

"You did a good job that time I'll hand it to you. You actually landed two solid hits on Hitmonlee. Great strategy, you knew I would have Hitmonlee shatter the Water Pulse and the water droplet's temporarily activated Buizel's Swift Swim. But in the end Buizel fainted and Hitmonlee is still up. You only have Purugly left, so it seems I am the superior trainer after all" she gloated with a constant smile. Cotter dragged Buizel's body and laid it gently beside him. He then did the only option he had left, got out Purugly's pokeball.


	8. Tour D'Progression

Sorry for the dely, got busy with other projects and I suck at multitasking. Here's the next installment and the story will start picking up.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter VIII: Tour D'Progression<strong>_

Cotter's Purugly stood firmly in front of his trainer, not backing down an inch despite his opponent being the fighting type Hitmonlee. Cotter's feelings were mixed between frustration and awe. Reimi and her Hitmonlee's power was quite incredible and he quite well knew he didn't stand a chance. He knew that in the middle of Buizel's fight. But Cotter was never one to back down or give up, he was going to fight for all he had and put on a show.

"Purugly start things off with a Quick Attack!" Cotter shouted and he pushed his palm outward.

"Mega Kick to counter!" Reimi ordered with her arms crossed. The fighting type swung one of it's large feet to come in contact with Purugly's charging body. Purugly tucked in her head at the last second and actually held her ground when the kick connected. The two pokemon had a power struggle but eventually Hitmonlee pushed Purugly sliding backwards. When this happened Cotter grew a very satisfied smile.

"Now use Echo Voice!" he commanded. Purugly eagerly took in a deep breath and then exhaled a high pitched song. Hitmonlee could do nothing to guard himself against the attack but dug it's feet in the ground so it wasn't pushed back. "Now follow up with another Quick Attack!" Purugly was in so close this try Hitmonlee didn't have the time to do any counter and was tackled right in the stomach and sent flying back. Purugly stood tall and proud next to her trainer while Hitmonlee lay unconscious next to his. Reimi almost didn't believe it as she returned her fighting type to it's ball.

"Wow, you actually beat Hitmonlee, maybe you're not that bad after all. Of course you still have no chance of winning." She added a peace sign and stuck out her tongue to the last sentence. She was very cocky and confident, but she was a tease about it and not a jerk, which Cotter was fine with. He also thought she was totally flirting with him, which made him even more alright with her attitude. "This will be the last round of this battle, I'm calling on you, Drapion!" Reimi flicked a pokeball high in the air and a very large purple beast came raining down from the skies. The giant scorpion slammed it's tail against the ground, smashed it's pincers together and followed up with an intimidating roar. Cotter and Purugly grinned happily at the challenge ahead.

"Let's take the first move again, Quick Attack!" Purugly charged recklessly ahead at flying speeds.

"Vicegrip! As the large grey cat speedily approached Drapion smashed down one of it's giant claws on top of Purugly's spine, pinning her against the ground. "And now Pin Missile!" Drapion took it's free claw and pointed it right at Purugly's face, then preceded to unload a barrage of needles. Because Purugly was pinned down she could not try to dodge and took the attack straight on.

"Echo Voice!" Cotter frantically ordered, trying to get his pokemon free.

"No use, Dark Pulse" Reimi responded turning her body to the side and flipping her hair. Both pokemon inhaled and exhaled a breath weapon. Drapion's Dark Pulse blasted right through Purugly's Echo Voice and collided with the cat's head. After the small cloud of smoke cleared all that was left was an unconscious Purugly. A disappointed Cotter recalled his fat cat into her sphere cage. Even though he knew he was seriously outmatched it didn't make the loss hurt much less. "Told ya I'm strong" she teased. "Anyway cutie you don't seem like the type to drop out so I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you, if you advance from the preliminaries of course. Later." And with that the attractive red head walked back towards Jubilife with her Drapion in tow. Cotter suddenly felt very lonely as the only conscious pokemon he had left was Murkrow. He reached his hand up and rubbed his faithful pokemon on the top of her head before continuing back to town.

–

The cute, red head Reimi was leaning against a random store while watching a preliminary match on one of the big screens plastered on the television station. Reimi watched a tall man in a black coat, the man Cotter knew as Smythe, did battle against an elderly, fat lady. The lady and her Jumpluff seemed very eager to battle, despite their appeances. Smythe calmly and elegantly released his battle choice and a tough looking Nidoking appeared. Reimi suddenly gasped, grabbing her gut and then keeling over in pain. Her knees landed against the cement road but she used her strength to stop her body from falling forward any further. Everyone around her were battle junkies and thus were way to interested in watching the fight to even notice that she fell down. After a deep breath Reimi removed the hand that she had held so tight against her gut. Then with that same hand she slammed her palm down on the concrete.

"First the dreams and now this" she mumbled frustratedly under her breath as she walked away from the large broadcasting screen. As her back was faced to the battle Smythe's Nidoking speared it's purple coated tail right between Jumpluff's eyes, knocking it out.

–

As the sun had set there were dozens of large groups of people centered around certain places all over Jubilife. Those places were where the results for who was moving on had been posted and everyone wanted to know their fate as soon as possible. Well not everyone, Cotter was slowly walking to a results destination a good hour after they were posted. The mobs had died down now making it much easier for him to check what happened. He crossed his fingers as he approached the large white list plastered on a telephone pole. The list had everyone's names who advanced in large font so no one missed themselves. It was in alphabetical order too, so Cotter just glanced around the top of the list. Murkrow, who was sitting atop his head, leaned forward and poked her beak right at a name on the list. Of course that name was Cotters. Murkrow chirped happily as Cotter leaped in the air and released a fast fist pump. Buizel showed his excitement in a smirk as he stood with his arms crossed and his shades on. Cotter had to release another fist pump before walking away from the results. From now on all Cotter had to do was win and he moved on, which to him seemed a lot easier.

"Hey! There you are buddy" a familiar female voice called out and Cotter felt like it was directed at him. He quickly spun around to see the lovely Reimi walking her way. She carried a cheerful presence and had on an awfully warm smile. "From the looks of things it looks like you advanced to the next round. So did I. You know what they say, the more the merrier, so how about it kid?" she proposed seriously.


	9. Tour D'Duo

Chapter IX

As the sun began to rise Cotter was still firmly asleep in his hotel bed. The sun peering through the window blinds made him quickly toss a blanket over his face to shield the light. With the light gone Cotter could now return to uninterrupted sleep. Three very loud knocks were pounded against the white, hotel room door. The loud sound broke Cotter's sleep but he just put a pillow over his head and continued to lay in bed. The knocks were head again, louder this time, but Cotter still didn't budge. Purugly and Buizel were both disturbed by the noise but they weren't making any movements to go to the door. Cotter's ignoring paid off because the knocking had stopped. Then suddenly there was another loud sound as the door came flying off it's hinges. Reimi and her trusty Hitmonlee stood in the empty doorway. Hitmonlee was in a fighting stance proving that he had kicked down the door. Cotter was now very much awake and was stuck staring at Reimi with his jaw dropped.

"When it's time to go, we go" she informed him in a serious tone. "Ignoring won't do any good because I'll find ways to get you to go. Now pack up your stuff while I go pay Nurse Joy for the damages." Reimi walked away with Hitmonlee in tow, no more words to be said.

"What have I gotten myself into, she's crazy" Cotter mumbled to himself as he got out of bed. He quickly pulled on blue jeans and tossed a purple jacket over his body. Cotter placed his three pokeballs on his belt and hurried out of the room. Murkrow was perched on his shoulder while Purugly and Buizel walked behind him through the tight hallway of the second floor of the Pokecenter. Diglett was the only one in his ball because Cotter knew he'd try to cause trouble. Cotter dragged his tired body down the long white hallway of the hotel. He gripped onto the rail and slowly lowered his body down the stairs. Now on the first floor and main room of the Pokecenter there Reimi was impatiently waiting.

"For a second there mate I thought you went to sleep again" she commented. "Now let us get out of here, Oreburgh won't be there forever." Cotter was still on the other side of the room as Reimi began to walk out of the building.

"Hold up. We have five days to get to Oreburgh. It's like a two day trip" Cotter spoke up, already fed up with how rushed Reimi was. Reimi quickly turned around, snicked and scratched her upper lip.

"What a silly kid you are" she laughed. "This isn't just a regular travel to Oreburgh. We are trainers traveling to another leg of a massive tournament. Just walking to Oreburgh would be fine if you want to lose your next match. But a smart trainer would be heavily training while they travel and thus taking longer than two days. We need to get out now while the sun is up so we can start training, well mostly you're the one who needs the training" she lectured ending with a flip of her red hair.

"Um couldn't we just get to Oreburgh quickly and then train there?" Cotter asked not really buying Reimi's story. A drop of sweat slowly rolled down Reimi's face.

"Well I guess one could do that" she laughed awkwardly while scratching the top of her head. "But I enjoy travel training."

"Eh fine we'll try things your way for now" Cotter said as he reached where Reimi was. Reimi smiled prettily as the two walked out of the Pokecenter and towards an adventure.

–

Cotter and Reimi had been walking along Route 203 for a few hours now and Reimi had been training the entire time. Her Scyther and Hitmonlee were dueling along as their trainer walked. Cotter was still in awe that not only could the two pokemon duel while walking along with their trainer, but the fact they were able to keep it up for so long. Cotter's pokemon just boringly walked alongside of him.

"Do I need to lecture you again about training dude?" Reimi questioned Cotter as they continued to move forward.

"I know I know, I'm just thinking of what to do for training. My pokemon can't tussle like yours" he honestly responded.

"Don't think, just act!" she snapped. "See that pokemon over there?" Reimi pointed to a an odd shaped yellow pokemon with green leaves and Cotter nodded. "Well attack it." Cotter jumped up and threw his hands up in surprise.

"What? Are you crazy?" Cotter wondered in a loud voice. "You can't just go attack wild pokemon for the hell of it." Murkrow nodded along to what Cotter said while Reimi showed no emotion at his statement.

"It's weird, even though we're about the same age the difference in experience is immense. Anyway you're not really going to hurt it. Just have a scuffle with it, leave and then in an hour it'll heal up and forget about the whole thing" she explained to him but he still wasn't sure about it. "Just do it" she pressured and lightly shoved him towards the pokemon. Cotter closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before pointing towards the grass pokemon known as Weepinbell.

"Alright Murkrow let's do this" Cotter uncertainly said to his pokemon.

"Make it snappy, I'm not going to stop my walking just for you" Reimi added. Sure enough even though Cotter had stopped Reimi and her pokemon had continued.

"Alright then, Weepinbell prepare for battle. Murkrow go with Aerial Ace!" Even though Cotter called it's name Weepinbell just sat there soaking in the sun. Murkrow collided into it with her Aerial Ace and Weepinbell was broken from it's sun induced trance. As Murkrow flew away to get ready for another attack, two green vines came from deep within Weepinbell's mouth and wrapped around Murkrow. Using the vines, Weepinbell smashed Murkrow into the ground and the vines were still trapping Murkrow. The green vines were wrapped so tightly around the black birds body that only it's head and talons could be seen. "Murkrow break out with Tailwind!" Cotter instructed but nothing happened. Murkrow couldn't move it's wings so it couldn't use any of it's moves. Weepinbell then preceded to slam Murkrow into a tree. Weepinbell started swinging Murkrow the opposite way, towards more trees. Suddenly without command Buizel dashed forward and Ice Punched the vines, breaking them and freeing Murkrow. But Murkrow continued to carry the momentum from Weepinbell's swinging and the injured bird was tossed a good ten feet. The collision with the ground knocked the bird out. Cotter knew Buizel could handle it and ran forward to check on Murkrow with Purugly following. Weepinbell released a barrage of green seeds but Buizel jumped up to avoid them and Weepinbell didn't aim up. Then up from the air Buizel released a stream of Water Gun that made direct contact with Weepinbell's head. Then still from the air Buizel stuck it's Ice Punch out and dove towards Weepinbell. Buizel was falling at such a fast speed that Weepinbell couldn't react and was struck right in the dome by Buizel's icey fist. The powerful attack succeeded in knocking out the grass type. Buizel looked over towards Cotter who was heading back with Murkrow inside her ball to get some rest. Cotter stopped right next to Buizel and looked down at the knocked out pokemon. Cotter couldn't help but get a wretched feeling in his gut. Buizel looked up at his trainer and shook his head, already knowing what Cotter was going to do. "Leaving an pokemon unconscious like this is not right" commented Cotter as he dropped an empty pokeball on the Weepinbell, effectively catching it. Cotter swiped up Weepinbell's pokemon and ran after Reimi who was now a small dot in the distance. Purugly was running right behind her trainer while Buizel waited a bit before running after it's trainer.

"You're too kind" Reimi told Cotter after he finally caught up to her. Cotter had to pause for a moment to catch his breath but then quickly moved up towards Reimi again not to be left behind a second time. Her Scyther and Hitmonlee were still furiously going at it, both very good at blocking.

"Yeah well we're partners now so get used to it."


	10. Tour D'Revelations

Chapter X

A large flock of Starly flew overhead as Cotter quickly scarfed down his granola bar breakfast because Reimi was ready to keep moving. Reimi slipped on her black backpack and then immediately started walking forward, without saying a word. Cotter sighed as he was hastily but sloppily rolling up his sleeping bag.

"You could've at least put out the fire!" Cotter unhappily shouted.

"Why waste my team, you're Buizel is already out and could handle that in a second" she wisely replied, not even looking back at Cotter to talk. Cotter's brows furrowed because she was right and he didn't like it when she was right. A cloud of steam came from the make-shift fire pit as Buizel had just unleashed his Water Gun.

"Thanks buddy. Suddenly Cotter's eyes lit up like the morning sun. As Reimi was now a good 30 feet off in the distance Cotter quickly flipped up two of his pokeballs. The prankster Diglett and the personality unknown Weepinbell came out to their master's call. "Diglett go serve up trouble and slow down Reimi" Cotter ordered in a whisper. Diglett happily stuck out his tongue and ecstatically took off digging towards the unsuspecting female. "And Weepinbell, can you use your skilled Vine Whip and roll up this damned sleeping bag." Cotter crossed his fingers after giving Weepinbell the order, since he didn't know what kind of pokemon Weepinbell was. Luckily the grass type obeyed and sent out it's green vines that with great precision rolled and tied up the red sleeping bag in mere seconds. Then without order Weepinbell dropped the sleeping bag in Cotter's large, opened pack and he even zipped it up. Cotter was very impressed but had to shake the impression off and get moving. "You're quite excellent, I like you" he complimented before returning Weepinbell in a flash of red back to it's pokeball. Cotter grabbed his pack, not even bothering to put it on and took off running with just Buizel in tow.

"Damn you!" Cotter heard Reimi scream and he couldn't help but snicker. As the boy got closer he saw his childish ground type waggling it's tongue at Reimi as she struggled to get out from the hole. The hole Diglett had made was actually his largest yet, it got Reimi up to her waste. Reimi could hear Cotter's laughing loud and clear as he approached behind her. He was able to completely reach her and she was still struggling to push herself out of the hole.

"You could've easily used one of your pokemon to help you out" he commented to which she just grunted.

"I don't need anyone, I can do this myself"she huffed while giving a large push off the ground. Cotter smiled at her persistence and slowly got down on a knee. He firmly held his hand out towards her with a large smile on his face. "I don't need anyone" she repeated slapping his hand away.

"I won't tell anyone if you don't" he smoothly replied, holding his hand out again. She didn't seem impressed by his lines and just ignored him, continuing to struggle out of Diglett's trap. "If you don't need anyone then why did you ask to travel with me?" he asked curiously.

"That's different."

"Not really. If you can do everything yourself, then you don't need a traveling companion. Because you don't need anyone, so that means you don't need any company" he accused, getting a little upset now. He had been confused ever since she asked to travel with him, she was a mysterious puzzle to him. Suddenly with a boost of energy Reimi shoved her waste free and came out of the hole. Before addressing Cotter she crawled to where Diglett was sitting and swung her fist down. Diglett's jaw dropped and his widened as the fist came towards him, but the scarred mole dropped down underground to avoid her attack. Cotter didn't get made at her action because Diglett kind of deserved it. He had commanded the mole to slow her down, not halt her progress. Diglett popped up about ten feet from Reimi, with his scarred face gone and his tongue out but Cotter returned his prankster before he could irritate the girl anymore. Reimi rolled over to sit with her legs crossed to try to get her energy back. Cotter calmly sat down next to his partner and looked her right in the eyes.

"Don't give me that look" she ordered him but in a slight joking tone. "Yes I'm hiding things from you but I'm sure you're doing the same. But we if we want to stick together, we probably should start opening up a little. So I'll tell you something that I've been keeping from you. But first, you explain to me. You have five pokemon but only four pokeballs on your trainer belt, there is a story behind this. Cotter and Buizel looked at each other and Buizel raised his chin high in the air to which Cotter smiled.

"Not much of a story to tell. Buizel is a proud pokemon, too proud to be caught" Cotter informed as Buizel adjusted his sunglasses with a smirk on his face.

"That's it?" Reimi questioned, not impressed.

"Pretty much. I mean if you want detail. I met him one day while on a walk where he was surrounded by three Staravia and he fought them all and won but his body was beaten badly. So I took care of him but grew too attached. And so..."

"Wait!" she interrupted. "That's not a story. Where is the detail, tell me about scenery, the action. Immerse me in your tail" Reimi demanded.

"I am a pokemon trainer, not a story telling. Anyway you can assume the rest of the story" he informed while getting up to his feet.

"Lame" she mumbled, crossing her arms.

"Well we're wasting time here, time we could be training. Rise up Reimi or I'll leave you behind." Cotter stood looking down at her for no more than five seconds before walking off. Reimi laughed as she caught up running to her partner.

"Glad you're back in a laughing mood, sorry about Diglett's hole, he is a troublesome pokemon, going off and digging holes like that. Anyway, I told you about Buizel, now you tell me something, you said you would." Reimi turned towards Cotter, tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled.

"I have a fear of Nidokings" she told him with a big grin. An unsatisfying face came over Cotter's face which turned into a disappointed scowl.

"Really, that's it?" he asked, crossing his fingers for something more.

"That's it, only a fair trade for your lame story." Reimi then increased her pace so she was two steps ahead of him, she liked walking in the lead. "Oh and Cotter. About my hole thing about not needing people or needing them. It's a constant struggle I have with myself that won't conclude anytime soon. So just, get used to it" The young male sighed, there was a lot more to his traveling partner, but for now he was just enjoying her company.


	11. Tour D'Challenge

Chapter XI

Cotter and Reimi stood side by side in front of a large hole in a rocky cave, the entrance to Oreburgh gate.

"Well here we are" Reimi announced and Cotter just rolled his eyes at her unnecessary words. "And we still have a good two days to spare til my match, and then yours the next day."

"Here we go" Cotter said, taking the first step in the dimly lit cave. "I wonder what kind of pokemon are in here, maybe you might catch something" he pondered as the two walked along the rough, rocky floor. A flock of Zubat flew over Cotter scarring him. Reimi just chuckled cutely and kept moving. This was the first time Cotter had ever been in a cave.

"Why would I need to catch a pokemon? I've had my six pokemon for years. I mean it'd be stupid to join such a big tournament with pokemon that you weren't bonded with and that weren't experienced. Much like you did with Weepinbell, but at least that's just one pokemon" she ranted. A drop of sweat ran down Cotter's face as he nervously rubbed his hair.

"Yeah, just one pokemon" he mumbled. Reimi didn't respond as she was scurrying up a small wall of rock blocking their path. At the top of it she dropped down to a knee and then held out a hand to help Cotter get up.

"Yeah just one pokemon. We fought right after your preliminary match which you had all your pokemon except Weepinbell. So I don't know what you're mumbling about silly boy." With a large pull she assisted Cotter over the obstacle and they continued their venture. Cotter let out a quiet sigh of relief, he wasn't going to tell Reimi that he caught two of his pokemon after he signed up for the tournament.

"There are a lot of days between matches, plenty of time for Weepinbell and I to bond and for him to get stronger" Cotter weakly defended.

"Objection!" Reimi shouted and her voice carried out throughout the cave. The loud sound spooked some Psyduck who were nearby and made the little duck waddle off in fear. "You are forgetting two very important things. One while you and Weepinbell get stronger, so is every other trainer in this tournament. And two, which is a much bigger deal. You say you have a lot of time to get stronger and bond but this isn't a movie. You're not going to always be fighting gradually harder opponents. You could be fighting the future champion in your very next fight, it's all luck of the draw, will you be ready?" Reimi intelligently lectured. Cotter clenched his fists tightly, not in anger but because he was being doubted.

"I can handle myself. And I'll prove it to you by using Weepinbell in my upcoming match" Cotter bravely declared to which Reimi raised a curious eyebrow.

"That won't prove a whole lot but it's a bold move, do it, show me just how skilled you are" she suggested.

"I will!" he exclaimed just as they reached the bright daylight of the exit. And there before their puny little bodies was the hustling and bustling mining city of Oreburgh. It was fuller than usual because the people had come for the tournament.

–

Later in the day Reimi was deep down in the mines training all six of her pokemon at once, preparing for her fast approaching match. A young boy with long, burgundy hair and a red hard hat sat on a rock in awe watching Reimi train. While Reimi was working hard down south of Oreburgh Cotter was up north, hardly working. He sat in the field of grass with Weepinbell's pokeball in his hand, thinking of what to do with the pokemon. Buizel and Murkrow were making use of their time by having a sparring match which Cotter didn't even organize.

"Let's see what kind of pokemon you really are" Cotter mumbled to himself. He then suddenly tossed Weepinbell's ball down and out appeared the large, yellow, plant pokemon. Weepinbell smiled happily at Cotter and flapped it's leafs which allowed it to move somewhat. The grass pokemon awkwardly flopped around to wear the sun was shining brightest. The green leaves on the side of Weepinbell's body began to glow a bright white and then his eyes slowly started to shut, he was fast asleep in a minute with a smile still on his face. Cotter stood unimpressed with his arms dropped. "So, you like to sleep and eat? Lazy and gluttonous" he clarified to himself. Cotter was now back to his 'what to do mode.'

"Pst, order a Sleep Talk" a male voice whispered from behind Cotter. Cotter quickly rotated his neck around to see a familiar man dress in black, Smythe, who had his surprisingly green pokedex out.

"Sleep Talk!" Cotter ordered and Weepinbell brought out it's trusty green vines. Cotter was pleasantly surprised by this result. "How did you..."

"Don't give up so easily, use your head, or in this case, your pokedex" Smythe interrupted and informed. "And I'm guess I'm not the only one who came out here to train. I can't wait til the later rounds of the tournament, there are far to many people here" he said to which Cotter nodded. "Anyway I think I'm going to take my training to the sky, I just saw you and thought I should help out first." Smythe reached his hand down towards his belt and released a large, winged pokemon. Smythe climbed onto the back of his Dragonite and the large dragon look off flying up in the air. Cotter immediately shot a look at Murkrow who just let out a laugh at the thought of carrying her trainer. Cotter resisted the temptation of continuing watching Smythe fly off on his awesome dragon, because he had training to be done. The young male flipped out his pokedex so he could learn his grass type's moveset.

"Weepinbell currently knows Vine Whip, Bullet Seed, Sleep Talk and Rest" listed the robotic voice of the pokedex. The moveset was rather limiting, with only two attacking moves, but Rest would allow Weepinbell to stay alive longer, which could prove itself useful in many fights. As much as Cotter knew he should be doing training exercises he decided to do the nice thing and let his pokemon sleep. Later that night though, he planned to work his pokemon to the bones, if it had any bones.

–

It was now late in the evening and Cotter laid uncomfortably on the hard floor of the Pokecenter lobby. The duo had been unable to get a room but the Nurse Joy kindly opened up the lobby for tournament participants to sleep in. The rule was that all pokemon had to be kept in their pokeballs. So Cotter laid there, failing to fall asleep, alone. As he wasn't completely alone, other trainers unable to get rooms were sprawled out around the lobby. He was alone in the sense he knew no one around him, because not even Reimi was around, which Cotter was just realizing. She was independent and could handle herself so Cotter didn't even worry about it. He was too busy worrying about his future in the tournament. Reimi had made great points, Cotter was a major underdog and this wasn't a movie but real life, the underdogs don't usually win. He tried to toss those thoughts out of his mind as he rolled over to the other side of his body, hoping that would be the position he could find sleep in.

Almost directly above Cotter, up on the roof of the Pokecenter lay Reimi who was having her own trouble falling asleep. It wasn't exactly that she didn't want to sleep, but she hated sleeping. The worst of nightmares haunt her almost every night. She tried not sleeping before, but that turned out just like it sounds, a bad idea.

"Father, why do you continue to hurt me" she mumbled to the stars as she succumb to the effects of sleep.


	12. Tour D'Round 1

Chapter XII

Deep down in the mines of Oreburgh stood the red haired Reimi with a pokeball in hand. She was standing right on the outside edge of a battlefield outlined in chalk and around here was a crowd of twenty people. Also there was someone dressed in a referee outfit and a trainer standing across from Reimi also with a pokeball in hand, though it was a blue and white ball. Cotter stood and watched amongst the crowd as both trainer tossed their balls up in the air but not too high due to the low ceiling for the mines. To fight for Reimi was an odd shaped, floating, white pokemon that Cotter had only seen before during feeding times, Frosslass. Unluckily for Reimi her opponent called on the dark type Scrafty. The fighting type bounced around and his stretchy skin bounced with him.

"Begin!"" shouted the female referee.

"Start off with an Ice Beam!" Reimi ordered while pointing a finger at the Scrafty. Reimi's human opponent was a very short man complete with a long black beard and a shaved head. He wore brown overalls over his bright yellow shirt, he was the walking definition of odd.

"Stop it with Dynamic Punch!" As Scrafty cocked his fist back it got a deep orange glow but the quick Ice Beam collided with Scrafty's body before it could even use it's attack. As Scrafty slid back from the impact of the attack Cotter's phone began to ring. He quickly darted out of there so he wouldn't disturb the fight and this was a call he knew he had to take, it was his mom. Cotter quickly jogged through the tunnel of brown and grey rocks with his path lit by torches on the walls. Once he felt he was far enough away he quickly answered the phone while it was still ringing.

"Cotter!" angrily yelled the adult women on the other line. Cotter's face turned a pasty white as he nervously searched for the words to say.

"Hi..mom" was all he could squeak out.

"It's been like over a week or something, not that I've been counting and you haven't given one call to your mother. I just couldn't take it anymore son, you've filled me with so much worry, what is going on?" yelled the protective mother frantically.

"Sorry mom, I truly am. I've just been so busy and occupied trying to adjust to this sudden change, calling you just slipped my mind. I'll get in a routine I promise" sincerely apologized the sun. Cotter smiled as he heard his mom quietly chuckle happily.

"It's just nice to hear your voice again" she commented. "So you haven't come home yet which mean's you've advanced past the preliminaries. What round are you in now?"

"Yep I advanced using Murkrow actually. And I'm in the first round, my match is tomorrow actually." Cotter fiddled through his belt to release Murkrow who heard Mother's voice and flew right towards the phone chirping happily to which the women couldn't help but laugh loudly.

"I miss you too Little Miss Murkrow. And good luck on your match son. I really miss you and Murkrow, and even Buizel, but this little Turtwig you gave me is helping keeping me sane. He is lazy and loves to eat, it's like having a second Cotter." Both mother and child shared in a laugh that time. Cotter's ears perked up as he heard the sounds of rushed footsteps belonging to a familiar red head.

"I won, you need more training, let's move it cot head before the rest of the crowd catches up and we get held up in traffic" Reimi instructed hastily and seriously. Cotter walked besides his partner as she passed, still staying on the phone.

"Who is that girl's voice my boy? Is that your girlfriend?" curiously poked Cotter's mom.

"Not even mom, more like a drill sergeant" the boy answered.

"Hey now that's not a fair comparison, no drill sergeant looks this good" Reimi retaliated. "And also hello Misses Alexander, I'm Reimi, your sons traveling partner."

"Don't flatter yourself" Cotter quietly replied.

"Nice to meet you Rayme and please call me Elisha. Well if you guys have places to go and things to do I won't get in your way. But Cotter you better call me tomorrow after your match, I want to know more about what's going on and more about this girl. I love you."

"I love you too mom" Cotter said followed up by flipping his phone shut. Cotter shoved his phone down in his pocket and grabbed up a pokeball as his arm came back up. "Alright Weepinbell, let's get to know each other more."

–

The next day Cotter stood in the position Reimi previously found herself in, surrounded by a crowd with his match happening in seconds. Except instead of a weird looking man Cotter found himself facing a beautiful lady about his age who had long, blonde hair and enticing, dark grey eyes. The girl was dressed in a pure black robe with black slip-ons to match. The ref had already began to the match, Cotter's lazy Weepinbell was unexcitedly laying in front of his trainer while the lady's Gible was happily bouncing around.

"Alright Gible please use a Fire Fang" the blonde girl asked softly and politely. Gible happily trotted forward with a mouth full of fire completely eager to chomp Weepinbell to the bit.

'Shit this was a horrible environment to pick Weepinbell for. It's rough but there is nothing for him to wrap his Vine Whip besides the opponent herself so Weepinbell's mobility is practically zero' thought !Cotter as Gible was bouncing closer and closer.

"Bullet Seed now!" Cotter ordered and the grass type effortlessly expelled a blast of green seeds. But the plant didn't put any effort on his aim and all the seeds were shot at Gible's mouth and burnt up in the flames. Then Gible's attack followed and she latched onto the left side of Weepinbell's body. Weepinbell's eyes grew wide due to the pain but he didn't make any sounds, just wobbled about ineffectively. "Pry it off with Vine Whip!" Weepinbell's left leaf was in Gible's large mouth so he could only summon the vine from his right side which wrapped around Gible's back fin. Weepinbell pulled and tugged but Gible was just latched on too tightly. Cotter couldn't help but get extremely nervous as the match as slipping before his eyes and Reimi just watched in utter frustration. The lady opponent was smiling but she lacked any seriousness, it was almost like she didn't realize just what she was fighting for. Weepinbell just kept tugging away while Gible drained it's health with her constant Fire Fang and Cotter was going through all of his options.

"Cotter!" exclaimed Reimi amongst all the cheers that echoed loudly in the arena. Reimi's yell got Cotter's attention and as he quickly glanced her way he got a small pebble thrown right at his mouth. Reimi gave him a smile and a thumbs up as their eyes met and suddenly Cotter's own eyes lit up with an idea, he had gotten Reimi's message.

"Weepinbell use your left Vine Whip and shove it down Gible's throat!" Cotter wisely ordered. The crowd and the blonde girl were shocked as Gible's eyes grew extremely wide and she loosened up her grip on Gible. With Gible no longer attached but his right vine still attached Weepinbell tossed Gible weakly. "Now use Rest!" Cotter called for because Weepinbell was no longer having his health slowly drained he could wisely have Weepinbell recover it's health. Gible rolled over itself a few times slowly before coming to a stop in front of it's lovely trainer. The young girl smiled and the young dragon type smiled back before childishly rushing in with a paw out for a Scratch. "Now use Sleep Talk" With closed eyes Weepinbell shot out green seeds with much more force than earlier and the seeds repeatedly slammed against Gible's forehead, making the dragon wince every time it was hit. The very last seed of Weepinbell's barrage hit Gible right between the eyes, pushed the pokemon onto her back and knocked her out.

"Cynthia's Gible is unable to battle, Cotter and his Weepinbell win the match" the referree officially noted. Right when he finished his words Reimi grabbed Cotter by the wrist and quickly yanked him out of the room, Cotter frantically recalled his grass type with his free hand. Reimi and Cotter soon found themselves in the same hallway that Cotter was talking to his mother in.

"I'm impatient, didn't want to get caught behind that crowd. Anyway you better..."

"Thank you" Cotter interrupted with a sincere smile on his face.

"You really have some work to do, hopefully you realize. You almost lost to a trainer with absolutely no drive, no desire, they were just doing this as a hobby, and you can not lose to opponents with that mentality Cotter. And you shouldn't have made that bet with me, Weepinbell was a horrible choice in that arena. No more bets okay, only smart decisions" she told him very sincerely.

"Aw you're actually starting to care about my well being in this tournament. Well hey this is a learning experience right and I learned that Weepinbell is far more comfortable when he is asleep and that he is also half-assed when he is awake" Cotter reported satisfied to which Reimi just sighed.

"That's something you should've realized when you were prepping him for the match. You need to pay more attention to detail, having strong combos isn't going to get you as far as you think. You need to remember to train yourself as much as you train your pokemon, train with strategies and just learn to spot openings better. Because quite frankly your fight was pathetic." Cotter winced at her final comment and Reimi herself looked kind of sad saying it.

"Hey now, I won didn't I, that's all that matters, now let's get a celebratory dinner. Yeah yeah I need to improve I know, I'll improve over a good meal, let's go." As Reimi and Cotter headed out of the mines an elderly women walking behind them was shaking her head in disappointment.

"Truly pathetic" she mumbled to herself.


	13. Tour D'Darius

Chapter XIII: Tour D'Darius

"Thank you very much madam" Cotter told the Nurse Joy as she returned his now fully healed Weepinbell to him. Though Cotter never touched Weepinbell's pokeball, Murkrow had to grab it from the nurses hand and place it on Cotter's belt. That was because the boy's hands were full with one large Purugly who really wanted to be held. Cotter's arms almost gave out underneath the pressure as he slowly walked to the exit where Reimi was waiting impatiently.

"Come on boy, we don't got all day" said the red head hastily.

"You're right, we have seven days. The final first round day which is today, then the six days until your match, and seven days until mine. Reimi sighed as her and Cotter left the white building very slowly. Exhaustion had already filled Cotter's body and sweat had covered the outside of his body but he kept going because it made Purugly happy. A few steps later and Cotter's legs gave out but he made sure to fall backwards to not hurt his cat. Murkrow wisely flew off her perch as Reimi chuckled and Buizel shook his head in embarrassment. "Alright buddy, carry time is over, just walk beside me now" Cotter weakly told his pokemon as he was still crushed under her weight. Instead of getting off Purugly started licking her trainer's face to show her appreciation and affection.

"You have no respect from your pokemon or control over them, except for like Murkrow, because she's freaking nice" Reimi commented as she started walking away.

"Maybe that's the way I like it" he countered, still being crushed by his Purugly.

"You like have a fat cat sit on top of you with no intention of getting off?" she rebutted wisely.

"You win this time, now help me out please" Cotter insisted while trying to budge off Purugly himself with zero luck.

"Pathetic!" yelled an old lady who was riding on top of a Purugly past Cotter who's Purugly was on top of him. This lady appeared to be in her sixties and she stood at no more than four feet tall. She was also very frail looking which is why she could ride on her Purugly. Her hair was gray and curly while her skin was pale and wrinkly.

"Excuse me?" Reimi said with attitude.

"No not you, the boy!" corrected the old wench.

"Ah well that's understandable and I agree with you there."

"Nice to meet you too old lady, how can I help you today?" Cotter asked now starting to get frustrated at Purugly.

"You can help me by stop wasting your talents!" she replied, just about everything she said she yelled. Cotter and Reimi were both confused by this old lady and shot puzzled glances at each other.

"Thanks for saying I have talents old mam. I'm guessing this is about the Tournament. I have everything under control, I've won all my matches so far. There isn't anything you or your yelling can do to help. So have a nice day" informed Cotter his frustration really showing now.

"You have everything under control if you plan to only get to the fifth round at best!"

"And what, you think you can make me stronger? I think you're day dreaming lady." Cotter pushed off Purugly, quickly stood up and got in the old woman's face. Since she was sitting on Purugly he didn't have to look down very far to see her face.

"Making assumptions of ones power based on their appearances is definitely going to take you out sooner. I guess words aren't enough, I will show you my strength, let us battle, up north of here" she challenged with a smirk on her face.

"I don't need to prove myself against an old lady" Cotter rejected, crossing his arms and staying in place. But his actions just made her smirk grow.

"If you don't need any advice or training, you can surely beat an elderly woman and her cat right?" Her sentence struck the right cords and he began to follow her with the intention to prove himself as Buizel, Murkrow and Purugly all followed him.

"Hey Cotter I don't feel like watching you lose to an old woman in battle so I'll be training over the by the west exit. If you're not back in an hour I'm moving on without you" Reimi informed followed be her heading west.

Before long Cotter and the old lady found themselves north past Oreburgh near a rocky cliff. The cliff didn't lead to the river that separates Oreburgh and Hearthome, that was farther north. But it did lead to a small, rough, rocky forest.

"This is a suitable place to battle" she spoke as she slowly got down from her faithful cat. She then stood behind her cat making it clear that Purugly was her chosen battle partner.

"Alright, what are the battle rules, um?"

"Darius is my name" she said filling the blank that Cotter was looking for. "As for the rules, single battle, that is all. We will keep going until you give up, I will only use Purugly.

"Hmm you're awfully cocky for such an elderly person Darius. I will show you my youthful spirit, you're up Purugly!" The large, grey cat happily jumped forward from her trainer's side.

"Looks like you continue to be bold, but boldness won't win you battles kid! Purugly use Hypnosis!" Before Cotter could even say a word the two Purugly's had locked eyes, with Darius' Purugly's eyes having a purple glow and within seconds Cotter's Purugly fell forward fast asleep. "Now blast her with Hyper Beam!" With the opponent fast asleep Darius' Purugly took it's time charging up the attack to be even more powerful. The orange and yellow beam was released with immense speed it slammed into Purugly sending the sleeping cat flying across the ground. Cotter had to lead out of the way to avoid getting his legs getting taken out by his own pokemon. When Purugly's momentum stopped it was revealed that she was knocked unconscious from just that attack. Cotter returned his cat to her ball with a look of shock and frustration on his face.

"Just what kind of trainer would I be if I let myself get so easily beat by an old lady" Cotter thought out loud as he motioned Murkrow forward.

"You're just a young kid with a lot of untapped potential" she told him. That was the first time she really wasn't yelling or being mean towards him. Just from that sentence Cotter had suddenly got an idea about her motives but he was too focused on winning the battle to put a lot of thought on it at the moment.

"Well I'm not one to just give up, go Murkrow!" The black bird who was chilling next to Buizel flew forward on her trainer's command.

"It's pretty common for Murkrow to have the Insomnia ability, could it be you're actually using your brain? Though sorry to tell you I don't need Hypnosis to win battles. Use Quick Attack!" The large cat used the familiar move and darted forward at Murkrow.

"Tailwind quickly!" Murkrow began to rapidly beat it's wings to increase it's speed but it wasn't fast enough and Purugly collided into the bird.

"Now Thunderbolt!" Darius ordered while the two pokemon were still touching each other. Murkrow felt the shock of Purugly's body being covered in electricity and then felt the shock of the actual Thunderbolt being blasted at it. Murkrow was shot over Cotter's head and slid across the ground. Just like with Purugly when Murkrow stopped moving it was revealed that she was knocked out. Cotter had just lost two pokemon without scratching Darius' Purugly. "Are you ready to give up yet kid?" she asked weakly and quietly. The old lady began to grow even more pale and stumbled to her right, towards the cliff. Cotter suddenly realized what was happening but it was too late, as he ran towards her she lost control of her legs and fell over the cliff.


End file.
